Introduction

ACROSS AMERICA NORTH, 2005
Astoria, OR to Portsmouth, NH  50 DAYS/ 3650 MILES

Across America North is America by Bicycle’s northern route across the United States. This 50-day moderately paced tour averages 80+ miles per day and crosses through 10 states and just a bit of the Canadian province of Ontario. The 3650-mile route begins with a wheel dip in the Pacific Ocean in Astoria, Oregon and ends with a wheel dip in the Atlantic Ocean near Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In between, meet the challenge of the Cascades, the Rockies, and the Appalachian Mountains. Experience the vistas of the high deserts, the rolling high plains, and upper Midwestern farmlands. Across America North is 45 riding days that will treat you to stunning vistas, epic climbs, and return you to “reality” with a whole new appreciation of cycling.

[This blog is being created  almost 11 years after the event described so that I can share the experience with family and friends. Some of the photos on it are a bit blurry because they were originally compressed to put on Mike Munk's website, and I pulled them from the website.

Backstory: In 2004 I retired in May from Fire Protection Publications, a fire service publishing company on the campus of Oklahoma State University. The very next month I began as staff for America by Bicycle, a bicycle touring company out of New Hampshire. My primary job was to keep leader Mike Munk's ride website, but I, like all the other support staff, drove the SAG van or luggage truck, set up SAG stops, and rode my bike either "Float" (free) or as "Sweep" (behind the last rider) with the clients. 

The ride described here was my second year to staff America by Bicycle's "Across America North" ride, which starts in Astoria, Oregon, and finishes in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 52 days and 3637 miles later.

                                                                                                                              Susan S. Walker, 2016